Staff Reporter :Hundreds of primary schools have either been damaged or washed away by flood waters in the past few weeks in the northern region of the country. Many other schools still remain submerged. Apart from being inundated or damaged by the flood, many schools in 18 districts had to suspend classes due to dwindling attendance of students as many of them along with their family members have taken refuge in the flood shelters elsewhere. Each year disaster leaves a major impact on future of young children and the education systems as a whole. Educational inequities are made worse because of schools being damaged or destroyed due to poor site selection, design, or construction. However, many school buildings are used as evacuation centres during floods. In Tangail, 436 educational institutes had been shut down. The parents are worried about their examination preparation. Tangail district education office sources said, 147 institutes in 8 upazilas had to shut down. Of them, 64 in Nagorwpur, 22 in Bhuiyanpur, 22 in Sadar, 4 in Basail, one in Shakhipur, 4 in Mirzapur, 12 in Delduyar and 16 in Kalihati. Tangail district higher education officer Shafiullah said, 147 high schools, madrasas and colleges had suspended their activities in the flood prone areas. The list has been sent to Education Ministry, they said. District primary education office sources said, 289 primary schools had to shut down as the flood water submerged the complex. Of them, 65 in Tangail Sadar, 51 in Delduwar, 54 in Bhuiyanpur, 16 I Nagorpur, 26 in Kalihati, 8 in Mirzapur and 2 in Gopalpur. The worst affected district is Kurigram where around 43,000 students of 248 primary schools are badly affected as their dwellings and schools have been inundated by the flood waters, according to District Primary Education Office (DPEO) sources,In Bogra, at least 83 primary schools, 10 high schools and one madrasa have been affected by the floods this year and a number of institutions in char (shoal) areas have been washed away.Students hit hard by the floods this year are the ones living on the chars of the Jamuna and the Teesta rivers where levels of water have been above the danger mark for nearly two weeks. Jamalpur district education officer said the floods have damaged over 400 educational institutions in the district.Nearly 2,500 flood-affected students on different chars (shoals) of the Teesta river under Dimla upazila run the risk of dropping out as their schools and houses have been washed away by the river. The Flood Information Centre has confirmed that eight educational institutions-six government primary schools, one high school and one kindergarten-have been severely damaged by the flood or engulfed by the river.The affected primary schools are Char Kharibari Modhya Government Primary School, Char Kharibari Babupara Government Primary School, Tapur Char Government Primary School, Tepa Kharibari Government Primary School-2, Purbo Kharibari Government Primary School and Hydarpara Government Primary School.The damaged high school is Tepa Kharibari High School while the kindergarten is Ekotar Bazar Kindergarten.Moreover, in many cases, books and other stationery belonging to a large number of these students had been lost or damaged.The government will provide new books to the students whose books had been lost or damaged due to the flood, assured education officers of the affected districts, said primary education officer of Bogra.When asked how teachers in these schools would compensate for the lost hours in lesson time, he said makeup classes will be arranged in schools in the affected areas. The makeup classes will start if the flood waters recede in the next two to three days. If necessary, the classes will be taken during the weekly or public holidays, he added.
